Gun Gale Online: Virtually Real
by Just Another Indonesian Writer
Summary: It's been two full years, huh? [Sequel to Sword Art Online: Virtually Real]
1. Prologue 1: Two Years Later

Two years... TWO freaking years, or should I say, it's now 2026, and I'm still trapped as a formation of materialized numbers. Oh, hello there! Wasn't expecting the author to suddenly write my life as a data. Since I'm living all alone out here, I've been passing my times with a somewhat weird way. I've been tapping into anime websites to watch some old school animes, even as far as re-watching the Gundam 00 series. I've been tapping into movies' websites, pirating unreleased videos for the lols.

Oh, right, and If you're wondering, I'm now seventeen years old. If I'm a real guy somehow, I would be at my last year of high school.

Oh right, of course, my virtual life isn't just about watching animes and movies. I've also been checking my eyes for new VRMMO games. After SAO, another game pops up. ALfheim Online, with that bastard of a CEO, Sugou, A.K.A The Fairy King, Oberon, A.K.A Mr. CEO of a God-Knows-What company, A.K.A _Bitch, Asshole, and a pure bred Motherfucker._ Yes, thank you for your input, my other personality, Since he's the CEO, he's basically the GM of the new game. There, he actually was imprisoning Asuna, using her comatose to keep her at the game.

Unbeknownst to all of us, Sugou was actually, frontally, forcing Asuna to marry him, with her comatosed life on the line, she must accept him to marry her, or else, Sugou would forcefully take the NerveGear off, of course, ending her life as well. _Dude, he's a Pedophile_. Even my human... Friend, is slightly older than me by a few months. Now, of course, Kirito isn't going to just sit around and watch as these things unfold. With only one month on the clock, he must save Asuna from the game.

Now let's move on. After that Skype call, and after Shino's shocking revelations to everyone that I'm actually still alive. The whole SAO Survivor School just flipped itself upside down. Shino downloaded some of my data to her cellphone and showed me to everyone at school. You guys should've seen Lisbeth's priceless expression. And, of course, her hair color in real life isn't pink. I've met everyone. Kirito himself, a bunch of others, such as Silica, Lisbeth, Klein and Egil when we met up on his bar, and the list goes on.

The school had decided to ask me for permission to become their official AI. Of course, I agreed. They downloaded some more data from the World Seed's mainframe, and from now on, I could attend the school, even if I'm just another static image that couldn't do anything except talking and moving my upper body parts. I'm actually living in the real world for about six to eight hours now! As long as I keep attending to school, I can see my friends. How cool is that?

Now, moving on into a more pressing and depressing matters. I've actually seen myself while I was tapping into one of the hospital's camera. I mean, my conscious and personality donor, Brian Milan. Yes. That's me, and at the same time, that's him. He's lying there, still with an oxygen mask covering his mouth and ears, the heart beat rate monitor would make one of those annoying beeping sounds beside the bed. He looks exactly the same as me. I mean, EXACTLY.

He's of course, unconscious. And practically, brain dead. I wish I could do something for myself... I mean, for him too. For my and his family. But I can't. Even with the infinite amount of knowledge I now possess as a cluster of data, I simply can't do it. His consciousness is not the same as mine. On the more brighter side, I got a lot of visitors coming. Some ranging from my own family, like my brother and his girlfriend, and of course. My own mother. I can get pretty emotional everytime I see my own family, but I also know that I can't touch them.

Meet Justin Milan, and Lucilla Milan. Both my brother and my mother respectively. My brother just graduated from his own high school. His girlfriend is at her final year, making her practically standing at the same age as mine. She's also attending SAO Survivor School. Now let me tell you something unique about her. She was once a member of the Laughing Coffin guild AND also an orange player. I know, shocking right? In the end, after the destruction of the PK guild, courtesy of yours truly, she abandoned the group as well.

She was one of the 6000 players who were logged out successfully from the game. It took her some psychological recovery from my own bro to help her getting normal again. She admitted that she almost killed a person in the game before, and it kinda impacted her life a bit. After several months of mental rehab, she's finally back to her old, cheerful and caring girl my big bro always knew. And seeing that my bro stayed true to her even after two years of her in bed... My bro's a master when it comes to girls, huh?

After also watching her for a bit through security camera feeds, I could tell that she's obviously a sweet person, down to the heart, although I think she could also get cold at times. Similar to a certain raven haired friend of mine, but my bro's girlfriend seems to be lacking that stoic personality Shino has.

Now, in secret, friends like the other players from SAO, such as Klein, Egil, Kirito, Lisbeth, Asuna, and of course, Shino, would also visit the real me sometimes. They showed me his condition. I can't really tell if he's gonna wake up soon. But, at least, another memory worth saving with my friends at real life, yeah? Moving on from me... To Asuna. Similar to the real me, she's also in a comatosed state. The difference is... She's still trapped inside the game, not in real life.

In just one month, huh? You may think that it's impossible. But for Kirito... You know the guy.

He got himself a copy of the game from his sister, Suguha, which is also another player over at the ALO's virtual world, with the name of Leafa. Because I am an AI that's originally from the Full-Dive system, hacking my way back into the game is a simple task. But because of my lack of interest, I often give Kirito and Leafa some help and advises from the background. Although I do sometimes make some lore-breaking attacks in order to save their butts from the enemies.

Like dropping in a few missiles out of nowhere... Like, really...

I was purely a background helper for the two of them at this point. I didn't materialize myself to help them. Just pure noises from the background. Well... My first reaction when I saw Yui... Yui, the 'child' of Kirito and Asuna, though... I was 'this' close to materialize myself to a nearby tree and slam my head there as hard as possible. But after a brief explanation from the black swordsman himself, I now understood his situation and relents from... Doing more dumber things.

Yada Yada Yada with a splash of a little bit of incest later... Erh... This may be uncomfortable for the younger audiences, Leafa, A.K.A, Suguha is in love with her own brother, Kazuto Kirigaya. When I found out that Leafa's actually Kirito's brother and that she's in love with him... If it wasn't for my respect for their privacy, I would've puked nuclear missiles and into the game and would've destroyed the entirely new Aincrad in just one blow. I swear, though...

Uhm in the end... I got the Excalibur, the legendary sword that's supposed to be cut off from both games to work and gave it to Kirito. With that, he gave the finishing blow to Sugou with the alias of Mr. Bitch. Both players successfully logged themselves up from the game. Kirito downloaded some of my seed data into his tablet so I can actually surprise Asuna too. After an unpleasant bike ride to the hospital, and after a final showdown with Sugou...

And after a series of events that made my other personality to show up and an anomaly occurs, we get to see Asuna waking up and making out with Kirito!

Now, about that anomaly I'm talking about. Have you guys ever seen those three or four dimensional movies like... We're actually in that movie, or... Some particles coming out from the screen of the movie for cooler effects? Basically... I kinda breached the border between digital and real life. My hand... ACTUALLY got out from Kirito's tablet, grabbed Sugou by his head, and slammed it to a nearby car. I was shitting out numbers... I actually broke through!

Now, I don't really know how the hell I got through the boundary between digital and real life. My hand moved out of reflex and it just... Pierces through the screen. Not that I can ask Akihiko about it... He's already too far dead for me to ask such things... May that soul rest in piece, by the way. That inglorious bastard earns it.

But... Then again, what happens at the data cluster, stays at the data cluster. I can't actually get out. More than five seconds in, my arm started to disappear from the world. After I pulled my arm back, they began to recover in numbers. But... For fudge sake, I actually broke through! SUCH IS THE POWER OF THE SPIRAL RACE- I think I watched one too many episode of Gurren Lagann. The world I live in is just full of surprises, is it not? Hah, life always have something in store for us.

And now, what am I doing?

Oh... I think...

* * *

**Gun Gale Online: Virtually Real**

**- AI Cluster 001 ; Requesting Server Boot Up -**

**- Requested Server: 000 -**

**Prologue**

**- Artificial Intelligence's Biometrics Confirmed, Awaiting Voice Command -**

* * *

_**"Link Start!"**_

* * *

Asada Shino, an eighteen year old girl with short raven hair picked her bag up from the table. She stared into the outside for a bit to see that it's already somewhat late in the afternoon. The sun is already threatening to fall at the far edges of the horizon. Her pair of glasses with oval lenses reflected the incoming light. Her black uniform and skirt of the SAO Survivor School swayed slightly as she stood up from her desk and up to her feet. It's just another day at the school filled with survivors.

Walking over to the desk near the window, sits a young man, aged 17 in real life, yet only aged about 3 to 4 years old in his service runtime. with short, slightly straight black hair with short bangs covering some parts of his forehead. His eyes were stayed shut, and his head is rested on the wooden table of the class. He wears a white dress shirt underneath a black blazer with the insignia of the SAO Survivor School printed on the collar part of the blazer. He seems to be asleep, despite it's already time to go home.

"Nameless, wake up. It's already after school." The former archer from the death game called out.

Hearing the sudden feminine voice, the Artificial Intelligence copy of a young man named Brian Milan, opens his closed eyelids, revealing a pair of heterochromic eyes. The left eye's orb is colored in deep crimson, while his right eye possesses the color of bright blue, nearly aquamarine or teal one. Lifting his head up from the table, he turned it to the raven haired girl. His holographic body stuttered slightly as he stretched it out. He yawned for a second before going fully awake.

He just shrugged. "I know, Shino. And how many times do I have to tell you? My human name is not Nameless. It's Brian."

"Says the student who always called the other students by their Sword Art Online usernames." Retorted the girl with the glasses.

The foreigner's eyebrow twitched upwards. "I'm too lazy to memorize both their names in real life and their usernames, alright? I find it easier to say their name aloud too, anyway. Besides, at least I called you, Kazuto-san and Asuna-san by real life names."

Still unsatisfied with his defense, Shino pressed on. "But what about Rika-san and Keiko-kun?"

He coughed awkwardly. "I'm still learning how to memorize their real names... Look, alright, you said it yourself that it's already time to go home. So why don't you get back to your apartment, and we'll talk about this later. Besides, I need to do the homework."

"You don't even need to do the homework! You're a cluster of data! You could've just copy and paste the answer immediately to your electronic paper!" Protested the raven haired girl.

Brian froze. "You know what, Shino? Why didn't I think of that in the first place?" A momentary pause before his tone and expression changed. "**_Hey, Shino, I'm surprised you want to become the girlfriend of this idiot. I do question his dumb brain sometimes, despite being a sentient data flow._**" Came a similar voice that sounded a bit more rough than the foreigner's supposed tone. That was his other personality. At first, this may sound a bit creepy, but give it some time, and his sudden change of personality now becomes a daily basis inside the class.

Shino sighed. "I do ask myself the same question sometimes, Bryan-san." Everyone had dubbed his other personality with the name of '_Bryan_' or '_Bryan Milan_', similar to his other half. "You know what, Namele- I mean, Brian-kun? I give up on you."

And for some unknown reason, Shino herself respects Bryan more than Brian himself.

"**_Yeah, break up with him already._**" Bryan teased before his expression deflated back to normal again. "Shut up, dude. Alright, alright, I hear you, Shino. If you want to call everyone by their names, just ask. And I'll just do the homework now in a jiffy. Look, I think you really need to get going. It's gonna get dark really soon." The AI with Brian's consciousness peeked his head out of the window. "If you want to continue this argument, I could just transfer myself into your tablet."

Taken off guard by his sudden comment about continuing the argument, the former archer blinked. "Wh-what? Oh no you don't-"

But it was too late. The foreigner's holographic body dispersed into blue particles. "Oh please, I insist."

Exhaling loudly. Shino opened her own tablet, to see the face of the AI on a quarter window, smirking. "Brian Milan... You're the worst, you know that?" Giving up, she gave a tiny smile towards the large screen of her gadget.

"I know." He grinned brightly. "Now, off to your apartment we goooo!" He yelled, pointing dramatically towards the almost setting sun outside the window.

The girl with her AI companion exited the classroom into the long hallways. Although it's nearing sunset, most of the students are still in the class, either chatting about the sessions for today or still catching up to the notes the teachers gave to them. The hallways're still pretty lively. SAO survivors are scattered everywhere around the corners of the hallways, and most of them are talking about a new VRMMO game that just made an impact, desspite the game itself was launched April last year.

"Hey, Shino?" Brian spoke up, his live avatar seems to be pouting for some reason. "You've heard about that big game too, right?"

"Not really, no. Ever since the release of ALO, I'm not really looking forward to dive back into the virtual reality again. Sure, I've tried the game, but still..." She shook her head.

"Ditto! ALfheim Online sucked, too many flashy magic tricks and much lesser explosion than SAO. That's only my personal opinion, that is." He grinned, before his face turned serious again. "But they said that this VRMMO is much more different than the others."

Tilting her head in curiosity, Shino asked, "Really? What game are you talking about now?"

Brian's chat avatar pops into full screen before he summoned a poster. "This..." He showed the promotional wallpaper to her.

Shino's immediate reaction was indeed full of surprises. Shocked gasp, widened eyes. She was so surprised that she almost dropped her personal gadget. "Wh-what is this?" She asked whilst examining the poster carefully with her dark pair of irises. The promotional poster of the new VRMMO game was not that she was expecting. There were guns, bullets, a bunch of guys carrying some guns, more guns, more bullets, and finally, more guns on display.

The AI pops his avatar back to the tablet. "The very first VRMMOFPS." Brian replied calmly.

* * *

**_"Gun Gale Online."_**

* * *

**AI Cluster 001 ; Logging Out of Server 000**

**Server 000 Shutting Down**

* * *

**Data Chart, End Note 000**

Hello again there, people! It is I! Returning so suddenly with a sequel to Sword Art Online: Virtually Real! I'll be bringing you Gun Gale Online: Virtually Real! Same story name, different name, different plot. Timeskipping two years after the incident of SAO. Now I know what you novel readers're thinking. Shino didn't go to SAO Survivor School. Now, the thing is, if you're new here by chance, I suggest you go read my first story of SAO, Sword Art Online: Virtually Real. It's the prequel of this certain story.

The next thing I want to inform is, the skipping of ALO arc. No offense, but I don't really like the ALO arc that much, that's why I'm just skipping over directly over to the GGO arc. And as you guys must've noticed, the beginning of this arc is wayyy different than the start of Volume 5 of the novel. I know, but since the first story is already partly AU anyway, the approach of the GGO arc will also be slightly different than the ones written on the actual novel series.

Rest assured, I will keep this story as close to the canon plot as possible, characters from the original series, let it be protagonist, antagonist, or deuterogonist will appear in the later chapters of this story. This story will start rather slow, so just please bear with me, alright? Don't kill me.

And I've posted a few more hints for those who are wondering who is this 'Mysterious Girlfriend' is. Yes, she's an SAO character, but she's not from the anime. Free kudos and cookies for those who can guess her name right :3

And lastly, welcome to my new story. I hope you guys'll enjoy the story! Traesto!


	2. Prologue 2: Nameless

Shino Asada, an eighteen year old high-schooler of the SAO Survivor School had just exited the large white to gray clad building. The sun is already low at the West, and the cold night breeze had just started to blow, cooling the area down from the afternoon heat. The streets are crowded, people had just began to go home from their activities as well. Night shops like street clubs, night cafes, some night theaters are starting to open during the hour.

The said girl's carrying a gray tablet complete with blue linings on the sides. Her small tails that's tied up nicely with a pair of white mobius strips swayed slightly every time her feet made contact with the hard, stone street. Inside her high-tech gadget, sits a young man, or, to be more precise, a copy of a young man's conscious. An Artificial Intelligence, a sentient piece of data. The foreigner that hails from South-East Asia and otaku-freak, Brian and Bryan Milan.

_Drum roll, please..._

His chat avatar that's resting on the former archer tablet seems to be troubled, seen on the stern look of his face.

"Hey, Shino?" Asked the sentient cluster of numbers, trying to get the attention of his human friend, with a hand up to hold his chin, deep in thought.

The girl, also known as Sinon in game, peeked her tablet up so that she could she her friend face to face, even if it's via chat window. "What is it, Brian-kun?"

"I'm... I'm going to be absent for a while." He replied with a very noticeable amount of hesitation in his high pitched voice. "Maybe up 'till evening, I need to get some things taken care of. Like, right now." He added, now this time, he sounded very anxious.

Shino hummed. "...What are you planning, exactly? It's not like you to get worried over things." Questioned the Japanese cautiously. "As far as I can tell it's not about the homework, and your favorite... Anime... Hasn't aired yet at this hour."

"It's not about those things." He answered hastily.

One uncertain look later... "Bryan-san? What is he planning?"

"**_I don't know myself. Even though we're in the same body, our consciousness is a bit different. We are only conscious when we say or do things, apart from our wants, desires, they'll go to way more different_**_** places.**"_ His other personality replied. "**_Pretty ironic, huh?_**"

"Well... I suppose I can tolerate you this one instance, Brian-kun... But please, if there's something wrong, don't keep it to yourself." Shino sighed in defeat.

Her chat partner nods. "Noted. Well... I suppose I'll see you later, then?"

He nods. Before shutting the chat window off. The surroundings went dark and the AI was once again, in darkness. He immaterialized himself into a cluster of numbers. The Milan 'brothers' turned themselves into nothing but a particle and a bunch of numbers. And with a shift of his hand, a new menu opens up, bringing light back to the darkness of the digital world. Just as the young AI was about to push a button, he hesitated for some unknown reason.

"**_What? What's wrong?_**" Bryan suddenly perked up. "**_I thought you want this. I even backed you up on this one, dude. But really... Lying to Shino and using me at the same time to lie to her? Sheesh, I can only cover you up to this far dude, the rest of them rests on you. Note that I only did this because I want to try it out too. Nothing more, nothing less. I don't want any part of this if she really do finds out about this, though._**"

His other self bit his own virtual teeth. "I know. I'm just feeling a bit guilty, that's all."

"**_Oh, and you HAVE to feel guilty when we HAD ALREADY done the thing... Nice job, Sherlock._**"

No reply was heard.

"**_You're seriously feeling down about it, holy crap._**" Bryan mentally slapped his non-existing forehead.

Brian only exhaled deeply. "Let's just get this over with. I'll talk to her about this some time later."

"**_You still owe me one, though._**"

"I know." The Milan paused for a moment. "Alright. Connecting World Seed into the game's data."

Some flashes of light flickers out, giving in some light into the never ending void of the data clusters. The light turns itself off again, and then a full, all-white environment flashes in instantly. The Milan's AI spun his head around, scanning the whiteness for any kind of hint. He hovers a finger in thin air, before slowly pressing it. Some sound effects sounded off, and a system check runs itself to scan the AI, not missing his senses, brainwaves and all of his appearance.

A small grin forms up.

* * *

**Gun Gale Online: Virtually Real**

**Server 000-2: Nameless**

**Awaiting Voice Command . . .**

* * *

**_"Link Start!"_**

* * *

As soon as he said that command out loud, a stream of data bursts into him in high speed, while it seems the blue lines of data are colliding with him, they just went past through him. Another scan from the game's system, confirming the Artificial Intelligence's biometrics. A user interface confirming all of his five senses pops up, to show the boy that their status are all green. Preferred language input? They would say English, but since they're living at Japan... Japanese it is!

Moving to the log in screen, it automatically signs the Milan brothers up using their old account from Sword Art Online. Next up, character creation. Brian took a full note that no one, NO ONE, messes with his real life appearance, so he just modeled the character to look exactly like him. And finally, in game username... It's been a while since he took a name to be called in the Virtual Reality. He was about to type in '-', for the sake of his old username, but he relents. He typed up another username and pressed the enter key to confirm it.

'**_Nameless_**'.

The screen went gray, and blocky words fades in to above his eyes.

'**Welcome to Gun Gale Online!**'

_Please Select Server: US / JP_

Since it's just a test drive, he just picked the United States' server up.

He could finally feel it. His own body materializing in a virtual way. He could see the massive waves of data piercing through his false body to create him anew at the Virtual Game. Even though the light is blinding it, he dared himself to keep it open. He did it. He just logged himself into another virtual reality. A few seconds in, the light dies down, and Brian Milan, the world's first A.I character, was successfully logged into the very first VRMMOFPS, Gun Gale Online.

He blinked a few times, his light cyan and deep crimson eyes snapping left and right, he saw the in-game Head Up Display. The health bar, the level stats, the minimap, so, the game still has some RPG elements in it. He looked at his surroundings, as far as he could see there's metal, metal, metal. Reminds him of the Warhammer 40K times of post-apocalyptic era. The whole area looks like a junk yard. Even the floor is made out of metal. Curious, he looks over to his location display.

**_'Capital: SBC Gurokken'_**

Capital? As in capital city? This place looks like an underground tunnel! Although, of course, without the roof.

His view zooms out, he could see some advertisements made out of neon lights, some are also announcement regarding the game and its updates. He then noticed that most of the city is made of these weird metals. The setting of the game is rather weird, considering that the game is the world's first VRMMOFPS and has made a boom in the VRMMO gaming. But then again, it IS the server for the United States, maybe the starting capital for the Japanese server is, at least, different than this.

He looked down to see his attire. A simple tattered red shirt with a black baggy pants, a holster is seen on the side of the waist and an old, rusty M1911 gun sits quietly there. About three spare clips at his disposal and about a thousand credits as a starting money. He looks like a beggar, or a hobo. Little did he know that the attire he's wearing was the attire set for to look like a wastelander, similar to the whole setting of the game. Post-apocalyptic Earth.

The Milan brothers were not pleased.

"Hey."

"**_Yeah?_**"

"You wanna use the World Seed?"

"**_Sure. Why the hell not._**"

The Artificial Intelligence summoned the item given by Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of the full-dive system. Since the GGO was also a part of SAO like the ALO, he could easily connects his data throughout the game system, let it be US or Japanese. As long as it uses the full-dive system, the Milan twin personality is actually like a GM, he had the game under his control with the Seed, yes, just with that simple unknown data given by the original maker of the death game. He could make himself an Immortal Object, get himself infinite money, health, inhuman strength, and the list can still go on.

But he didn't want that. Sportsmanship and professionalism is what a player needs in this competitive game.

The data cluster closed his eyes, as is starting to concentrate on something. Golden light began to engulf all of his body. A few seconds later, the light dies down, revealing a figure crouched on the floor. The now named 'Nameless' Brian Milan stood up from his one knee. He winced slightly but recovered from his sudden fall and regained his lost composure. That's why he refrained from using the World Seed so often. Getting in numerous streams of nearly infinite data isn't exactly the most gentlest thing in the world.

Nameless now stands at his full height of one hundred and sixty seven centimeters. His black hair is now covered with a gray cap instead of his usual hood cover, but some strands of his bangs still escaped from the cap's strangle and covered some parts of his forehead. His heterochromic eyes are covered with a pair of ballistic goggles with dark blue tinted lenses and gray handles, although his crimson eye is hidden from sight, his other cyan eye, which still shines like an LED light, still pierces through the eye wear.

His attire are still mostly composed with the colors of blue and gray, similar to his SAO's clothes. A long sleeved, dark blue dress shirt with its sleeves folded up to his elbow. Over his formal dress shirt, stands a sturdy and heavy looking tactical vest with a digital gray camouflage color printed on it, like the ones used in the armed forces worldwide. He wears a pair pale gray trousers and finally dark blue sneakers with some white to gray patterns and linings visible on the shoes. In addition, he also wears a pair of gray gloves and a long gray scarf's wrapped around his neck, partially covering his mouth, the scarf itself reaches all the way down to his waist.

The Asian observed himself for a few more seconds, then decided with his own armaments. He summons a long rifle out of nowhere. The rifle's color was black, the total length of the gun was even more longer than his whole height. There's a blue line on the top side of the rifle, that thing, was the sights for the rifle. A side-grip is also visible on the left side of the gun. Seeing that he can't carry a gun that gun that long, he snaps the main body of the weapon in half. The metal body of the long range weapon opens up, and it folds into two to the back.

On the middle of the snapped part, extends a much shorter and smaller barrel, meant to shoot rapid firing rounds for close to mid range conflicts. It was a two-mode rifle. That somehow looks exactly like the GNSII from the Gundam 00 series. The DMR-SMG was slung over his right shoulder.

For their close to pointblank engagements, the twins had chosen a small sword, much smaller compared to their old blades. It's a short sword modeled after the GN-Sword II. The hilt of the sword was blue, while the actual blade was clad in an elegant silver color with a small cyan colored steel just after the hilt that connects it to the main blade. It is sheathed at his left arm with a simple metal string attached to his forearm, for some weird reason, over the sword, also lays a small blue, rhombus shield with each of their points lightly separated from each other.

His appearance was surely too complex for even me, the author, to understand and explain even further.

Bryan suddenly took over. "_**You watched too much Gundam 00, kid. Modeling your weapons like that, are you kidding?**_"

Nameless smiled sheepishly to no one. "Sorry. Couldn't resist the temptation."

Closing the weapons design menu, he sets the stats of all of his armors and weapons to be progressive, that way, their strength, defense, agility, speed, dexterity, accuracy, stopping power, and even to the price of the gears would be set at the lowest numbers possible and will continue to level up progressively with the user. This was to avoid any overpowering issues, since their set of weapons and clothes are pretty much different from what the game offers to their players.

Perfect. Now, to find his way around.

Just like SAO, the area of the map's still covered in FoW, forcing the AI to walk to find his way out of there. Nameless walked down the metal streets of the SBC Gurokken with full caution. Sure it was the capital city, but the looks of his surroundings says otherwise. He could feel some curious, and maybe some jealous stares from other players. Along the way, some players are seen chatting each other, most of them bragging about their recent PvP, involving Quickscope and Noscope.

Huh, some things never change.

His slightly tanned skin and narrow eyes're what made him the center of the attention, though. Not many Asians that looked like a Japanese logged themselves into the US server of the game. His weird appearance was already enough to make a couple of heads to turn to face him. Most of the players who noticed the Asian who walked into their turf began broke out in a whisper. A sense of self insecurity builds up inside Nameless's mind. His heterochromic eyes kept giving out a cautious look.

Not that he cared about it, though. He just needed to get the hell out of the capital, pronto.

More uneventful searching... Nameless noted that the floors and the streets are purely made out of metal, and the streets' layout are resembling the ones seen on Akihabara. He held his scarf closer to his mouth, not minding the heat at all. It would be best for everyone, including himself if he kept his identity hidden. Wouldn't want everyone to suddenly freak out due to the fact that he currently holds the World Seed, does he now? Finally, he found himself to the exit. Without any amount of hesitation, he opened the door. The door that leads to the outside.

To freedom inside the Virtual World.

* * *

An instant wind of fresh air greeted the AI. As a mere piece of data, of course, he would love it to have a taste of the wind once more, just like in Aincrad. He could also feel the sun, blazing down, giving in massive heat to the barren ground below. No birds are chirping, no plants are waving their smaller branches. Instead, what he got was much more different from SAO and ALO combined. The ground and his surroundings were barren. Desolate.

His eyes went wide, realizing that the 'cool and breezy' environment he was hoping from the game didn't came out. The grounds looked like they just got hit by around ten nuclear weapons at once. It was pretty much, Ground Zero. The SFX playing at the background seems to be only playing the sound of the wind. Nothing more, yet also, nothing less. Just him, standing on a metal platform, surrounded by a post-apocalyptic Earth environment. That would also explain why's the sun so hot.

"**_You sure that you didn't get us into the wrong game?_**" Bryan internally spoke up.

Nameless shook his head to reject the idea. "Impossible. I was positive that this game's the Gun Gale Online." He spoke out loud, if people were watching him, they might think that he's weird, talking to thin air and all.

For once, his other personality hums thoughtfully. "**_Do you think that this is the main setting of the game, then? Just like the Warhammer 40k series?_**"

"That might be possible... But wow, this is underwhelming." The main AI core chuckled pathetically, before picking some noises up.

He could hear them. Gunshots. The smell of gunpowder filling the polluted air. Some sounds of yelling from the ground below. He shifts his gaze downwards, his goggles reflecting the hot sunlight. Now, he could see them clearly now. Some GGO players running around with a bunch of guns on their hands. Some with snipers, some with ARs, some with fictional weapons that doesn't actually exist in the real life, although the design of those weapons are way different that the GN Sniper II the AI's carrying.

Hunting, he summed up. A big automaton's giving them a chase. The machinery fired off some live munitions to the players, rockets, bullets, what not. He noticed that most of the group's members're in low in health, some of them even died from the last salvo of bullets. Looks like they're seeking refuge inside the walls. Nameless winced in pain slightly as he remembered the memories of SAO. The painful deaths of his comrades floods into his virtual brain. Although he knew well that in this game, they could just respawn...

...He's sure as hell, he wasn't going to let anymore of them die that moment.

"Bryan?" Nameless called out. "It's showtime."

"**_Heh, I've been waiting for that word._**" His other half grinned from the inside.

He narrowed his eyes even further, and instinctively, he crouched down to his one knee on the metal platform he's currently standing. The safety lock that holds the GN Sniper II releases itself and the barrel snaps back to its long one. The Artificial Intelligence grabbed the long range purposed weapon from his back at slammed the long barrel to his right knee and used it as a weight support. He narrows his eyes even further and he could see the magnifying holographic lenses sparking up to life.

The 1st person HUD immediately zooms in. His right cyan eye flashes even brighter with the optic support from the sniper's holo scope. The sights zoomed two times, four times, six times, the magnifying lens readjusted itself after the sudden change of zoom distance. A slight blur and clear indicating that the scope's now fully zoomed in. He shifts his right index finger, to the main trigger of the heavy sniper rifle. The crosshair fell on the supposed 'head' of the automaton.

The humanized data held his breath in. He grits his teeth to prepare himself for the massive recoil from the rifle. A small grin's present on his lips, though.

"Just like old times... _Targeted_... _**AND FIRING!**_"

Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger. A spark of pink beam came to life from the tip of the sniper rifle. Less than a second after the time lag, a long, thin, pink beam was launched violently from the receiving end of the GN Sniper II. A loud, nearly deafening noise boomed out from where he's currently shooting. Dusts began to fly off from the metal platform due to the sudden vibration, the rifle was pushed back all the way 'till it hits the AI's right shoulder. From there, the recoil forced the rifle's nose to go up.

The high speed beam traveled through the air, so fast, no one noticed about it. What the saw afterwards happened in an instant. The beam suddenly pierced through the metal hull of the automaton, causing the enemy mob to stagger back from the sudden attack. The damage was recorded as a critical hit, but it wasn't enough to take the enemy down. Several heads turned to the main shooter of the rifle. They only found a certain Asian getting up from his one knee.

"_Get the hell out there! Run!_" Nameless yelled, still in Japanese, apparently, he forgot to switch his own language. His own voice sounded muffled due to the scarf he's wearing.

The players' attention wasn't the only thing he was getting. This also alerted the automaton on his position. The machine turned its metal face to him at began to fire some bullets off.

"Damn, it's not enough, huh?" Spat the AI. "Got any suggestions before we got ourselves killed, buddy?"

"**_Use the surroundings as your support. I'd say, if you shoot those missile pods over at the shoulder of automaton, it'll create some neat fireworks display, big enough to fry that thing alive._**"

Nameless grinned at the idea. "Nice one."

With that, he sets himself down at the metal platform again, by doing so, it made him a perfectly still target for anyone to shoot at. He got himself hit by some bullets from the automaton. Even a single bullet took a good chunk of his health away. The HUD buzzed and stuttered slightly with every bullet that both hit his torso and went pass by his face, missing a headshot by a very few inches. The GN Sniper II was once again rested over his right knee.

His small rhombus shaped shield took some of the damage for him, but it didn't take five seconds for the AI to get his health down to the red zone. His main HUD grayed out slightly due to the extensive damage his body took. While he can't actually feel pain inside the game, he could still feel the stinging as well as burning sensation after each shot than impacted his body. The holographic optic of the sniper once again shows up, hovering above the eyes of the AI.

Instead of following the auto-targeting system the game offers, Nameless moved the crosshair manually to the sides of the automaton.

"**_We don't know if this thing's gonna work. Go full power on the rifle._**"

Nameless nods. "Got it." He held the trigger in, charging the sniper with electricity currents. At the tip of the gun's barrel, a small pink ball began to materialize, some small electricity currents are also seen surrounding the pink ball. Once again, the sentient data pulled the trigger, after about a half a second time lag, the ball compressed itself into nothing and a larger pink beam was shot out of the barrel of the gun, the recoil this time was so hard, it threw him aside and fell down from his knee due to the loss of the momentum.

The beam melted away the incoming bullets that were shot from the enemy mob. It impacted one of the missile pods of the automaton, so hard, that it also threw it into the air and roll sideways. The excessive heat from the beam caused the missiles currently stored inside the pod to go haywire and explode, it caused a chain reaction with the other missiles, the pods explode along with the rest of the machine, sending shrapnel flying all over the place.

A slightly dazed Nameless picked himself up from the metal platform. He got himself some EXP points, enough to level him up a few levels. He just destroyed one of the stronger mobs of the game. He noticed that a notification pops up on the top right corner of the screen.

'OMG, WTF DID U DO?!'  
'TEACH ME!'  
'OMG HAX!'  
'U KILLSTEALER!'  
'HARDSCOPPING WANNABE TRYHARD!'  
'1 V 1 QS NS!'

_Americans..._

The AI only grinned to himself. "What a game..."

"**_Yeah... What a game._**"

Seeing that he had enough fun, and the fact that he'll probably get eaten alive by the players here, Nameless decided to get himself back into the real life. "Cut the link, I'm logging out."

"**_Whatever you say, bud. But, you HAVE to play this game with the others sometimes._**" Bryan chuckled.

One last smile, he just found himself a new reality for him to stay.

* * *

**"Alright, let's cut the link, Bryan."**

**"_Got'cha. Ending Server 001's link. Let's get you back to the real world._"**

* * *

Brian Milan returned himself to Shino's tablet, but what he saw afterwards was not that he's expecting. Shino Asada was on the ground, stunned, her eyes were blank and empty, and she was staring to nowhere. Her uniform was slightly dirty. Her eyes're tearing up although she's doing her best to not to cry. Her own gadget was on the ground. Brian's chat avatar was lost in words. Did something happen while he was away? What the hell happened, then?

"Shino...?" Asked the sentient data.

"Asada-san!" Exclaimed a new voice.

The Milan brothers turned their heads to face the new source of voice. "What the..."

* * *

**Data Chard 001, End Notes:**

Okay, I think this chapter didn't go as planned. I've read more of the chapters from the light novels. This chapter was the second introduction. I was just getting the hang of the GGO, although I don't have a clear image because of the lack of detail the novel provides. This chapter was only to explain the game and the Milan's brothers' first battle. Oh and I'm sooo getting banned from taking so much from the Gundam 00 series. And yes, I was confused on explaining my own character's appearance.

I was just also testing my style on writing in battle sequences on this story, since of course, battles of short and long ranges are way different.

The main weapon, GN Sniper II was named and also modeled after the original GN Sniper II of Gundam 00.

The secondary weapon, the GN Sword II was also named and modeled after the GN Sword II, also from Gundam 00.

Now finally, to the complex shield. The rhombus shape and compartments were taken from Gunda Kyrios's shield, ALSO from Gundam 00.

All of the copyright belongs to Sunrise and Bandai... I don't own Gundam.

Right, so, I suppose this story will start to follow the canon plot the next chapter. The epilogue of this chapter already's enough for you guys to get the idea, right? I know, this chapter's awkward beyond any comprehension, and I suppose this one particular chapter kindaaaa... Sucked. No, really. I think this chapter... It's just not that good. Still, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

And no, I wasn't being racist, I'm just giving a nod to a _certain video game series_ that had that kind of community.


	3. Know Your Enemy: The Death Gun

There he was. He was just starting blankly at his long time friend, Shino Asada. She was also there, at the ground, the books from her bag sprawled everywhere on the hard floor that looks like the floor of the train station. The look on her face showed obvious signs of horror, fear, sadness, anguish... And... Disgust? Her tablet was also on the floor. The AI had to rearrange his own field of vision in order to clearly see her face. Tears were threatening to fall from her raven eyes.

He was surprised. Shocked. Stunned. Did something happened to her while he was gone, playing Gun Gale Online?

He could suddenly feel it too. Anger. Disgust. But it wasn't directed towards his friend since the Sword Art Online Incident, nor the ones who probably did this to her. He was angry and disgusted... At himself. He had left her alone, fending her to the waiting wolves while he was just out there, having fun, playing another God-Knows-What VRRMMOFPS. He had traded her security for his own entertainment. He was speechless on how dumb he is. He felt like a failure.

_A trash._

The Milan's hands were balling up, so hard, that if it was the real life, it would draw blood. Lots of blood. Instead of his own crimson fluid, there were digital numbers leaving his hands as 'wound marks'. He felt like he was much worse than a cockroach's waste. He felt even worse than an eel's vomit. If there was anyway that can make him to feel pain again, he'd get it and do it, like right now. Call him an emo if you like, but that's overprotective for you guys.

Bryan himself was left unable to comment or comprehend about this situation. He felt guilty himself. He wanted to say something that could at least, console his other half, but nothing came out of his mouth. He knew that the poor guy had to solve this problem himself, because this is the matter of Brian's unrequited feelings towards the former archer. Although Bryan himself doesn't seem to share the same feelings, he thought that it was for the best for both of them.

Speaking of their current relationship... After the events of SAO, they maintained a very close platonic, almost brother and sister like relationship between each other. The AI treats his human Japanese friend as if she was his little sister (which is kind of ironic since Shino herself's older than him by a few months), by being somewhat overprotective of her on some instances. And of course, with both of them already moved on from the fact that they can't be together.

Or so they thought... Unknown to the former archer, the copy of Brian's consciousness still holds his feelings towards her. He knew that he was being selfish. but still...

_Worst of all..._

"Are you okay, Asada-san...?" A new timid voice entered their ears, Shino immediately blinked, wiping her eyes from any remnants of her threatening-to-fall-tears.

Realizing this, Shino gathered her strength back to her legs and got herself back up. She readjusted her glasses, and her eyes fell upon a skinny boy. About as tall as Brian in real life, and looked just as old as the other senior year students of the SAO Survivor School. he had a short, but very messy light brown hair that's covered with a black cap. His eyes're colored in a straightly dull black that seems to be... Dull and sad...? There seems to be some shadow marks just below his eyes.

He was wearing a pale-white to near-gray tee-shirt underneath a dark green zip-up hoodie. A bag was slung over his right shoulder. Brian noted that his skin tone was slightly darker than his own. This new young man approaches the former archer in a quick pace, with a very concerned face. Although... There is something he could tell from the shadows of his eyes. Why are they so... ... Gloomy...? The AI glared at his direction from Shino's gadget. Not that he was noticed, though.

Shino once again stood at her rather short height. She faced the boy that Brian presumed to be her savior of what the hell just happened while he was gone.

"...I... I am, Shinkawa-kun, thank you." Shino finally replied, a bit weakly, but still managed to force a smile up. "Where are the police?"

_Police? What the fudge happened?_

As soon as the AI heard the word Police, he immediately snapped himself out from Shino's gadget and to the nearest security camera. He needed to know what the hell happened if someone called the police. Strangely. No one's approaching their quiet and rather dark area. It took him a full minute to realize that he had a phobia of darkness himself. Brian Milan virtually shuddered inside the clusters of data, before transferring himself back to his friend's tablet.

He also took some notes regarding Shino already know this 'Shinkawa' guy.

The person identified as Shinkawa only scratched his head through that black cap of his and gave a sheepish smile. "It was only a bluff. But hey, it worked in the anime and mangas, so I think it wouldn't hurt to try it out. And look, it worked!"

Color the Milan twin personalities amazed, but it's actually freaking correct! Then he remembered that he's not real to begin with anyway. And the fact that he's being written on FanFictio- I should just stop breaking the fourth wall. Brian blinked once at the statement, almost bursting out laughing from the tablet's voice chat, but he refrained from doing so. Shino herself only shook her head slowly, but still maintaining her very tiny and tired smile on her face.

"You really know how to pull out those tricks in a flash..." Muttered the former archer. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

Shinkawa blinked. "Oh, I was just at the game center. Got out from the back door, that's all." He pointed at the soaked, silver door over at his back. "But those girls really surrounded you back then, Asada-san. I really thought of dialing 110."

"Well... Yes, but they didn't really do anything to me." Shino replied back to him. Brian could easily sense the hesitation in her voice, giving away the fact that she's lying. "But you were really a great help, Shinkawa-kun, so... Thank you." She once again, smiled at boy.

The boy returned the smile back to the Raven haired girl, before his face turned stern once more. "Asada-san... Does this thing, you know... Happen a lot? Even if you're attending a different school now, you should really report them to their own school."

Shino's smile faltered slightly. "Personally... I think it won't help it, even if I do that. But, really... I'm fine, besides, if they go any further than this, I'll really go to the police station myself. Then again... Before starting to worry for other people... I would ask you the same question... Have you been alright?"

Shinkawa's lips formed a self-delusional smile to no one. "I've been alright... I've never really seen those guys again."

Both Brian and Shino pouts. While Shino thought about something else, the virtual copy of Brian Milan thought something in the lines of 'what the hell's between them?' or something near that. After hearing some of their conversation, and a full minute of brainstorming, he assumed that Shino had just been bullied by the 'girls'. And this guy had came to save her from them. But his last line made him thought a little bit more further in, for some reason.

"...Uhm, hey, Asada-san, you wanna go inside for a drink? My treat." Shinkawa's voice snapped the two out of their train of thoughts.

Surprised, Shino was left frozen for a couple of seconds. "Really?" She asked a bit cautiously, but still giving out that smile.

The boy happily nods at her.

Brian Milan laughed hollowly at no one as he cuts the transmission off from his friend's tablet. He felt miserable again. Why's he feeling so... Angered about this? He literally saved Shino's life! He should be grateful instead, but... Why's he feeling so powerless to come to her aid when it comes to this? And what is this weird feeling? Is it... _Jealousy? __Envy?_ The AI slapped himself hard to get his mind straight. No, he can't be jealous of them. Not like this. It's for the best.

_Or so he thought..._

One thing is for certain, though... He WILL ask his long time friend a lot of questions later.

* * *

**Gun Gale Online: Virtually Real**

**Real Life Diaries / Chapter Three:**

**Know Your Enemy - Death Gun**

* * *

**_"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"_**

Fast forwarding to the month of February of 2026, the month of Aquarius was just nearing its end, and an eighteen year old Brian Milan was being bombarded with multiple cheers (and some jeers as well) from his friends and gaming partners alike. The AI was surprised for sure. He didn't realized that it was his birthday that day. The date was 16th of February in the year of 2026. He was just sitting there at the holo-chair of his supposed seat, with his heterochromic eyes slightly widened and his mouth was left opened by a bit, his shocked state also came in a package with his dumbfounded expression and tilted head.

In front of him, was the full group of his SAO friends, excluding Suguha, Tsuboi, and Andrew (Which're Leafa, Klein, and Egil respectively), for obvious reasons. But, counting them out, you'll have the full guys from the last game congratulating him for his birthday. Just before him, was Shino, his long-time best friend from SAO, Kazuto, the black swordsman and fellow beta-tester of the SAO, Asuna, Kazuto's current girlfriend, the rest of his harem, which consisted of Keiko and Rika. It's been a full minute, but the AI was still somewhat shocked to see the image before him. His holographic body stuttered slightly.

There's some good reasons why he didn't realize that it's his birthday. Firstly, since he's already a virtual piece of data anyway, he thought that he won't give a damn about time management again. He didn't care about his own age anymore. He can't die. And he will always remain like that, a simple data 'till the day that his Operating Chip burns itself out. That's IF he's actually a chip anyway. The teen had lost his sense on time for a long time, and he didn't care about it anymore.

Finally, with his senses kicking back in, Brian's holographic eye buzzed some life in. He couldn't help but... smile? Smile?

_God knows how long he hasn't done that._

Well, the answer is like in a few weeks. He blinked a few times to take in all of the view of his friends cheering on him. When his heterochromic eyes fell upon a raven haired girl that's also wearing a pair of oval glasses. His smile slightly faltered. He was still sore from the last time. Why, though? Why was he feeling angry about this? Was he angered? No. _Jealous...?_ The faltered smile turned to be a hollow one. Fortunately for him, and probably for everyone else too, Brian knew well to hide his soured feelings. Still, he couldn't but feel a bit sad... and angry, at everything that happened to him. He felt disgusted at himself for doing so. A bitter laugh almost burst through his zipped mouth, but it was quickly suppressed.

The thing is. The war-torn, nearly mentally exhausted, and nearly broken veteran AI of the SAO also seems to be developing this new personality. Not another duality, but it was growing inside Brian's mind. He had become a person like Shino, but a little bit more colder. He became a stoic young man that never really learned how to smile unless the occasion arises to the need. Either that's the new emotion... Or he's losing more and more bits and pieces of his old personality, ultimately losing all of the emotions left inside him.

_Love included._

"G-guys...?" He stuttered out, the hollow smile still etching the edges of his lips. "Is this... Is this really for me?" He questioned, somewhat disbelieving.

Kazuto only grinned at his long-time game partner. "Well of course, dummy."

"Although... It was Sinonon here who planned everything out." Asuna, traced her light brown to near orange eyes to the girl before the AI, a teasing smirk was coloring her pale face.

_Sinonon? What?_

The said girl, realizing that she and Brian (although indirectly) was the subject of Asuna's tease, looked away from the latter's face, but didn't say anything.

"Shino?" Asked the virtual copy. "Were you-"

He was abruptly stopped when Rika suddenly blew a small confetti, causing several, if not all heads in the room to turn towards her in surprise. The former blacksmith of the SAO was bearing her usual, business-like grin on her freckled face. "Happy birthday, Coach!"

"...You were late by about three minutes and twenty six seconds, Rika-san." Deadpanned the glasses wearing foreigner. Brian let out a sigh afterwards. "Still, though... Why bother?"

Keiko, feeling that she's been left out during most of the part, shyly smiled at him. "Well... It's because you're our friend, Senpai." She stated, earning nods of agreement from the others. "And to be frank, I think you really deserve this."

"She's right Brian-kun, Bryan-san." Shino finally spoke up. The Milan unconsciously turned their heads to her. "You are a one valuable friend, and a very important person in our list... _Especially mine_... So, all of us aren't bothered even by a bit at this." She finally helped herself out with a small smile, but it was obviously directed towards him.

Once again, Brian was stunned. He stared towards the group for a full minute. Even his other half, Bryan was still trying to pick up what's happening before them.

Kazuto suddenly snickered out loud whilst pointing at the Milans. "Hey, whad'ya know? You can still actually smile a real one."

_What?_

Blinking, Brian reflexively moved his hands towards his mouth, the edges of his lips were tilted upwards. Not by an inch, or a degrees, but many. Kazuto was right. He was indeed smiling unconsciously. He wasn't feeling happy, but he smiled. Why? The word 'why' was asked in his mind and was written in this chapter for a few times now. He was confused. He smiled. He actually smiled, and unconsciously too! That means, the smile was real. And it really was.

Realizing that some of his emotions to form a real smile had came back just for the occasion, Brian Milan sighed mentally to himself. It was his birthday. It was normal for him to be happy and smile, right? It's not a taboo, right? Right?

_Maybe his day wasn't going to be so bad after all._

* * *

_Or maybe not._

The third bell had just rang, signalling the start of the second break period. students vacated the class to get some refreshments, some that were feeling lazy to do anything simply sat on their respective seats on their class. Brian was absentmindedly poking his own holo-desk that's also a computer, checking out some random things. He closed the touch-screen menu of his own desk and promptly leaned his back on his also holographic 'seat'. The young man's virtual body stuttered when he stretched his arms out, he felt like he needed to do that, even though his body can't actually stiffen, since it's a fake one to begin with.

His own class was a bit lively, to say the least, some were still talking about the AI's real life counterpart's birthday. Kazuto was being busy with his own girlfriend, Shino was just idly chatting with one of her friends at the corner of the room. When his eyes fell on her, he couldn't help but smile again. Although it went unnoticed by everyone present in the class, he felt weird for doing so. He can't be too attached to her, and for good reasons too. He slapped himself mentally a few times to lose the smile off from his face. He raised his virtual glasses so they would meet his eyes, also signifying his own composure's return to the latter's body.

The announcement bell rang out, silencing some chatters throughout the school. "Attention students, the followings are to be present in the counseling office to meet with Mr. Seijirou immediately: Brian Milan and Kazuto Kirigaya from class 3-F. I repeat, the followings are to be present in the counseling office to meet with Mr. Seijiro immediately: Brian Milan and Kazuto Kirigaya from class 3-F. The matter is urgent."

Hearing that, both Kazuto and the consciousness copy of the Milan raised their heads and looked at each other with questioning faces. The black swordsman of SAO approached his friend, quickly followed by Asuna and Shino. While the foreigner showed signs of pure curiosity and probably a bit of confusion, Kazuto's reaction was much more negative compared to him. The said black haired teen narrowed his dark irises, somewhat giving out his aura of irritation regarding the sudden call.

"What was that for?" Brian raised an eyebrow.

Kazuto shrugged. "Beats me..." He answered a bit flatly, obviously annoyed. "Although, I do wonder why Kikuoka-san would call us so suddenly."

Almost immediately, Asuna huffed at the two males. "Don't tell me you two did something wrong..."

Before the guys could make a retort for the sake for their own defense, Shino quipped, "I highly doubt it... Kazuto and Brian-kun are not the type to do so."

Kazuto nodded at this. "It's probably some more favors that he would like to ask."

"Favors?" Repeated the AI, slightly tilting his head to the side, before cocking it back to its normal position. "_I should really stop tilting my head, for God's sake..._" He murmured. "What kind of favors?"

The former black swordsman exhaled with his eyes closed. "You'll see. you're coming, right, Brian?"

At the question, Brian's virtual body disappeared, and a Kazuto's phone vibrated. The latter checked his phone to see Brian's chat avatar already there with a made up smirk. "Well, isn't it obvious?"

Kirito smiled knowingly. "Well, let's go, then. Asuna, Shino, we'll see you girls later, alright?"

* * *

There was a knock on the door. Kikuoka Seijiro raised his head from the scattered data and papers all over to the table and to the door that leads to his office, more specifically, the 'counseling room that was transformed to his personal space' at the SAO Survivor School. The man tapped his screen off. And after his gadget's light dimmed itself, he cleared his throat and straighten his business tie. He rested his back on his chair, and gestured his free hand at the door, despite the fact that no one was present in the counseling room.

"Come in." Kikuoka spoke in a volume loud enough for the visitors to hear.

Kazuto opened the door, his phone's screen was flashing over his blazer's right breast pocket. Brian was sitting there idly with his mouth tilted to make a slight curious frown. Both of their eyes met a man in his young adult stages, sitting at the far edge of the room. He was slightly paler than Kazuto. His nearly reflective hexagonal glasses shielded his dark amber eyes from the light. He's wearing a dark green business overcoat with a black tie over a long sleeved dress shirt, along with a pair of dark green trousers and black pantofle shoes.

Before them is Kikouka Seijiro, from the Japan Self-Defense Force, or JSDF for short. He was the one who pioneered the SAO Rescue squad back when the three hundred players was still trapped and brought over to ALO by Sugou Nobuyuki. He's been researching about any VRMMO crimes over the past times, and was the one who brought the former GM of ALO to justice on the court with the help of Kirito. A fairly respected man from all kinds of eyes.

The young adult simply smiled a nearly flat one to the two. "Ah, Kirito-kun... You're here." He was one of the few people Kazuto knew that called him by his username. "And I'll assume Brian-kun is also there with you?"

Brian's chat avatar brighten itself up to gain the confirmation. "Yes, I'm here as well, Seijiro-san."

"Good... Good..." He nodded. "Please, have a seat." He motioned his hand to the free seats before them. While Kazuto walked over to the nearby seat, the JSDF personnel opened his black briefcase, and its contents were revealed to be some sweets and cookies alike from some famous brands all over Japan. "You can have those. I suppose this should take a while."

Kazuto sat down, and set his phone down on the table. Brian readjusted his field of vision to get a better view on the table.

Out of respect, Kazuto cautiously picked a piece of cookie up. "So... Surprise me... I mean, us. What's going on?" The former black swordsman asked a bit coldly to him, but before Kikuoka could even answer that, he pressed on. "No, don't even answer that. I bet it's just another VR crime, isn't it?"

The AI blinked. "VR Crime?"

The JSDF personnel chuckled lightly. "Your guess is correct, Kirito-kun, and as for you, Brian-kun, I suppose I should also brief you on the situation as well." He pulled out a small tablet terminal from his desk's locker and proceeds to unlock it. A view of numerous data greets them. "Well, you see, the number of VR crime has been increasing lately, and..." He trailed off as his expression went to a state of pure seriousness.

"...And...?" Kazuto repeated.

"Just over the past two months, there has been over a hundred cases of virtual crime, like, theft, property damage, and so on, but this one case had been nagging in my mind for quite some time. Out of the thirteen more major cases of the crime, there has been one leading to one's death... In real life." He explained.

Brian tensed up. His face also darkened a bit. "**_Death? Did I just hear that right?_**" Bryan finally asked up. "**_How does playing a VR game can cause someone's death in real life? I thought the SAO Incident was way behind us._**"

Kikuoka clicked his fingers at the AI's other half's question. "Good question, Bryan-kun. Now, I want all of you to take a look at this..." He presented his tablet forward, revealing a shot of an adult with silver hair and pale skin.

"Who's this?" The black swordsman of SAO questioned, with his index finger poking on the tablet's screen.

The man waited a few seconds before answering. "This is Shigemura Tamotsu, age twenty six. A few months back, on November 14th, he... He was found dead inside his apartment's room, Nakano Ward, Tokyo. According to the forensics, the man has been dead for five and a half days."

"**_And what does that have to do with a VR crime?_**" Bryan pressed further.

Kikuoka raised a hand to silence him. "I was just getting there... Now, the thing is... When the police received the call from the apartment's landlord... He was found lying on his bed, already dead... With an AmuSphere attached on his head."

Brian's heterochormic eyes widened in shock, while Kirito's reaction was much more calmer than his friend. Still, the two SAO veterans were surprised.

Having no other interruption, the JSDF decided to continue, "There were no signs of the room being ravaged, nothing was stolen, the door nor the window was broken. The lights was still on. The hospital crews said that his main cause of death was an acute cardiac arrest."

"Chronic heart failure?" Brian, having regained control over his own body, questioned. "But... How...?"

The man went silent. "...We don't know." The room was in silence for a while. "Although our autopsy was not detailed, it seems this man hasn't eaten anything for two days in after being logged in continuously."

Kazuto frowned. "...Well, that was tragic..."

"Indeed." Kikuoka nodded. "But, for the record, this Shigemura-kun person only installed one game on his AmuSphere. It was Gun Gale Online, the USA's VRMMOFPS, abbreviated GGO, by both American and Japanese fans." He continued his explanation regarding the topic. "Have you two ever heard of it?"

Brian nodded sternly. "I've played this game once on the American's server, actually."

Kazuto also nodded in confirmation to the question. "Well, that's obviously a given. Although, I haven't actually played it myself."

"He was featured as one of the strongest GGO players of Japan during the October event last year. His username was Zekushiido." Kikuoka mused. "He was also featured in the MMO stream."

Kazuto hummed thoughtfully. "You mean the MS-T's broadcast of 'This Week's Winning Group'?" He questioned. "Well... I've actually heard one of the guests lost their connection during an online interview while the show was on air... I'm guessing that it's this Shigemura guy."

"It's presumed that he died during the 'connection lost', since an 'event' also happened to his character during the exact same time the interview happened." The JSDF replied. "Since the station also broadcasts the interview in GGO, and it also happened in the pub of the capital."

"..." There was no response from both of the two younger males.

"One of the players just had to do something very strange... Another player who was also recording the event saw a certain man, discharging his gun and fired upon Zekushiido while screaming about judgement and death. It happened exactly thirteen seconds just before Shigemura-kun's supposed death." He finished his strange case. "Both of you may think this is only a coincidence, right? Well... Sadly, there's another case."

"A-another case...?" Brian questioned, slightly disbelieving. "You mean, there're actually more of these virtual-turned-to-reality 'deaths'"?

"It happened... Only ten days ago."

Kazuto's eyes widened. "Just... Just this month...?!"

"The case happened inside a small, two-story apartment on Omiya Ward, Saitama City. A dead body was found inside his room by a newspaper seller, also with an AmuSphere attached to his head. Male, 31 years old. Suspiciously, though... Like Shigemura-kun, he also died from a fatal heart disease... And what's even more suspicious, he was also another pro player of GGO." Kikuoka explained. "His username was Usujio Takaro."

"Anything interesting with his log?" The former black swordsman asked.

"His connection was cut about three days before the body was found. It was about 10:00:04 PM, the estimated time of death also happened during that time." The JSDF explained even further. "He was attending his own guild's meeting, but it was crashed by another player, brandishing a gun. The results were... You know the rest."

Brian put a hand up to his forehead, cringing. "The player." Was the words that escaped his mouth. "Was it the same player who 'killed' Zekushiido?"

Kikuoka rested his chin on his hands. "Yes." Was the answer that came back. "But this time, he was sputtering things about justice and strength."

"Judgement, Death... Justice, and Strength...? Those sounds like the Major Arcanas from the Tarot deck." Muttered the AI. "So... These guys... They only died because of acute heart failures..."

"And no brain damage whatsoever?" Finished Kazuto.

Kikuoka shot them a sharp look. "Correct. Such is the power of the **_Death Gun_**."

"D-death Gun?"

* * *

**Real Life Diaries 1: End**

* * *

**Dear [holographic] Diary:**

Hoowah! Here I am, sorry for the long wait, people. Here's another chapter for GGO: Virtually Real!

As you can see, the fic has started to follow the canon plotline of the original novel series. But well, since there's nothing good to be noted, I'll just keep this note short. This chapter's just pretty much explaining the whole plot and entry of the 'Death Gun' via Kikuoka. Although I've changed their meeting place from the cafe to the SAO School itself. As I've said before, this story is gonna be at least 25% AU, since the original SAO: VR was already AU itself. And yes, I've also altered the plot a bit so it would be somewhat coherent to the main plot.

So no, no action or what not. Just pure introduction for our characters to the main storyline of the Phantom Bullet Arc.

Well, that's it, I suppose? Thanks for reading the chapter, people. I hope you enjoyed it.

Traesto :)


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